We will now determine whether it is proper that children should be taught to sing, and play upon any instrument, which we have before made a matter of doubt. Now, it is well known that it makes a great deal of difference when you would qualify any one in any art, for the person himself to learn the practical part of it; for it is a thing very difficult, if not impossible, for a man to be a good judge of what he himself cannot do. It is also very necessary that children should have some employment which will amuse them; for which reason the rattle of Archytas seems well contrived, which they give children to play with, to prevent their breaking those things which are about the house; for at their age they cannot sit still: this therefore is well adapted to infants, as instruction ought to be their rattle as they grow up; hence it is evident that they should be so taught music as to be able to practise it. Nor is it difficult to say what is becoming or unbecoming of their age, or to answer the objections which some make to this employment as mean and low. In the first place, it is necessary for them to practise, that they may be judges of the art: for which reason this should be done when they are young; but when they are grown older the practical part may be dropped; while they will still continue judges of what is excellent in the art, and take a proper pleasure therein, from the knowledge they acquired of it in their youth. As to the censure which some persons throw upon music, as something mean and low, it is not difficult to answer that, if we will but consider how far we propose those who are to be educated so as to become good citizens should be instructed in this art, [1341a] and what music and what rhythms they should be acquainted with; and also what instruments they should play upon; for in these there is probably a difference. Such then is the proper answer to that censure: for it must be admitted, that in some cases nothing can prevent music being attended, to a certain degree, with the bad effects which are ascribed to it; it is therefore clear that the learning of it should never prevent the business of riper years; nor render the body effeminate, and unfit for the business of war or the state; but it should be practised by the young, judged of by the old. That children may learn music properly, it is necessary that they should not be employed in those parts of it which are the objects of dispute between the masters in that science; nor should they perform such pieces as are wondered at from the difficulty of their execution; and which, from being first exhibited in the public games, are now become a part of education; but let them learn so much of it as to be able to receive proper pleasure from excellent music and rhythms; and not that only which music must make all animals feel, and also slaves and boys, but more. It is therefore plain what instruments they should use; thus, they should never be taught to play upon the flute, or any other instrument which requires great skill, as the harp or the like, but on such as will make them good judges of music, or any other instruction: besides, the flute is not a moral instrument, but rather one that will inflame the passions, and is therefore rather to be used when the soul is to be animated than when instruction is intended. Let me add also, that there is something therein which is quite contrary to what education requires; as the player on the flute is prevented from speaking: for which reason our forefathers very properly forbade the use of it to youth and freemen, though they themselves at first used it; for when their riches procured them greater leisure, they grew more animated in the cause of virtue; and both before and after the Median war their noble actions so exalted their minds that they attended to every part of education; selecting no one in particular, but endeavouring to collect the whole: for which reason they introduced the flute also, as one of the instruments they were to learn to play on. At Lacedaemon the choregus himself played on the flute; and it was so common at Athens that almost every freeman understood it, as is evident from the tablet which Thrasippus dedicated when he was choregus; but afterwards they rejected it as dangerous; having become better judges of what tended to promote virtue and what did not. For the same reason many of the ancient instruments were thrown aside, as the dulcimer and the lyre; as also those which were to inspire those who played on them with pleasure, and which required a nice finger and great skill to play well on. What the ancients tell us, by way of fable, of the flute is indeed very rational; namely, that after Minerva had found it, she threw it away: nor are they wrong who say that the goddess disliked it for deforming the face of him who played thereon: not but that it is more probable that she rejected it as the knowledge thereof contributed nothing to the improvement of the mind. Now, we regard Minerva as the inventress of arts and sciences. As we disapprove of a child's being taught to understand instruments, and to play like a master (which we would have confined to those who are candidates for the prize in that science; for they play not to improve themselves in virtue, but to please those who hear them, and gratify their importunity); therefore we think the practice of it unfit for freemen; but then it should be confined to those who are paid for doing it; for it usually gives people sordid notions, for the end they have in view is bad: for the impertinent spectator is accustomed to make them change their music; so that the artists who attend to him regulate their bodies according to his motions.
We are now to enter into an inquiry concerning harmony and rhythm; whether all sorts of these are to be employed in education, or whether some peculiar ones are to be selected; and also whether we should give the same directions to those who are engaged in music as part of education, or whether there is something different from these two. Now, as all music consists in melody and rhythm, we ought not to be unacquainted with the power which each of these has in education; and whether we should rather choose music in which melody prevails, or rhythm: but when I consider how many things have been well written upon these subjects, not only by some musicians of the present age, but also by some philosophers who are perfectly skilled in that part of music which belongs to education; we will refer those who desire a very particular knowledge therein to those writers, and shall only treat of it in general terms, without descending to particulars. Melody is divided by some philosophers, whose notions we approve of, into moral, practical, and that which fills the mind with enthusiasm: they also allot to each of these a particular kind of harmony which naturally corresponds therewith: and we say that music should not be applied to one purpose only, but many; both for instruction and purifying the soul (now I use the word purifying at present without any explanation, but shall speak more at large of it in my Poetics); and, in the third place, as an agreeable manner of spending the time and a relaxation from the uneasiness of the mind. [1342a] It is evident that all harmonies are to be used; but not for all purposes; but the most moral in education: but to please the ear, when others play, the most active and enthusiastic; for that passion which is to be found very strong in some souls is to be met with also in all; but the difference in different persons consists in its being in a less or greater degree, as pity, fear, and enthusiasm also; which latter is so powerful in some as to overpower the soul: and yet we see those persons, by the application of sacred music to soothe their mind, rendered as sedate and composed as if they had employed the art of the physician: and this must necessarily happen to the compassionate, the fearful, and all those who are subdued by their passions: nay, all persons, as far as they are affected with those passions, admit of the same cure, and are restored to tranquillity with pleasure. In the same manner, all music which has the power of purifying the soul affords a harmless pleasure to man. Such, therefore, should be the harmony and such the music which those who contend with each other in the theatre should exhibit: but as the audience is composed of two sorts of people, the free and the well-instructed, the rude the mean mechanics, and hired servants, and a long collection of the like, there must be some music and some spectacles to please and soothe them; for as their minds are as it were perverted from their natural habits, so also is there an unnatural harmony, and overcharged music which is accommodated to their taste: but what is according to nature gives pleasure to every one, therefore those who are to contend upon the theatre should be allowed to use this species of music. But in education ethic melody and ethic harmony should be used, which is the Doric, as we have already said, or any other which those philosophers who are skilful in that music which is to be employed in education shall approve of. But Socrates, in Plato's Republic, is very wrong when he [1342b] permits only the Phrygian music to be used as well as the Doric, particularly as amongst other instruments he banishes the flute; for the Phrygian music has the same power in harmony as the flute has amongst the instruments; for they are both pathetic and raise the mind: and this the practice of the poets proves; for in their bacchanal songs, or whenever they describe any violent emotions of the mind, the flute is the instrument they chiefly use: and the Phrygian harmony is most suitable to these subjects. Now, that the dithyrambic measure is Phrygian is allowed by general consent; and those who are conversant in studies of this sort bring many proofs of it; as, for instance, when Philoxenus endeavoured to compose dithyrambic music for Doric harmony, he naturally fell back again into Phrygian, as being fittest for that purpose; as every one indeed agrees, that the Doric music is most serious, and fittest to inspire courage: and, as we always commend the middle as being between the two extremes, and the Doric has this relation with respect to other harmonies, it is evident that is what the youth ought to be instructed in. There are two things to be taken into consideration, both what is possible and what is proper; every one then should chiefly endeavour to attain those things which contain both these qualities: but this is to be regulated by different times of life; for instance, it is not easy for those who are advanced in years to sing such pieces of music as require very high notes, for nature points out to them those which are gentle and require little strength of voice (for which reason some who are skilful in music justly find fault with Socrates for forbidding the youth to be instructed in gentle harmony; as if, like wine, it would make them drunk, whereas the effect of that is to render men bacchanals, and not make them languid): these therefore are what should employ those who are grown old. Moreover, if there is any harmony which is proper for a child's age, as being at the same time elegant and instructive, as the Lydian of all others seems chiefly to be-These then are as it were the three boundaries of education, moderation, possibility, and decorum.
ACHILLES, 76Act of the city, what, 69Actions, their original spring, iAdministration, 76;whether to be shared by the whole community, 203AEsumnetes, 96AEthiopia, in what manner the power of the state is there regulated, 112Alterations in government, whence they arise, 142;what they are, 143Ambractia, the government of, changed, 151Andromadas Reginus, a lawgiver to the Thracian Calcidians, 65Animals, their different provisions by nature, 14;intended by nature for the benefit of man, 14;what constitutes their different species, 113Animals, tame, why better than wild, 8Arbitrator and judge, their difference, 49Architas his rattle, 248Areopagus, senate of, 63Argonauts refuse to take Hercules with them, 93Aristocracies, causes of commotions in them, 157;chief cause of their alteration, 158;may degenerate into an oligarchy, 79Aristocracy, what, 78;treated of, 120;its object, 121Art, works of, which most excellent, 20Artificers and slaves, their difference, 24Assemblies, public, advantageous to a democracy, 134Assembly, public, its proper business, 133Athens, different dispositions of the citizens of, 149Barter, its original, 15Being, what the nature of every one is, 3Beings, why some command, others obey, 2Body by nature to be governed, 8;requires our care before the soul, 232Calchis, the government of, changed, 151Calcidians, 65Carthaginian government described, 60Census in a free state should be as extensive as possible, 131;how to be altered, 162Charondas supposed to be the scholar of Zaleucus, 64Child, how to be managed when first born, 235;should be taught nothing till he is five years old, 235;how then to be educated, 236Children, the proper government of, 22;what their proper virtues, 23;what they are usually taught, 240Cities, how governed at first, 3;what, 3;the work of nature, 3;prior in contemplation to a family, or an individual, 4Citizen, who is one? 66, 68;should know both how to command and obey, 73Citizens must have some things in common, 26;should be exempted from servile labour, 51;privileges different in different governments, 68;if illegally made, whether illegal, 69;who admitted to be, 75;in the best states ought not to follow merchandise, 216City, may be too much one, 27, 35;what, 66, 82;when it continues the same, 70;for whose sake established, 76;its end, 83;of what parts made up, 113;best composed of equals, 126City of the best form, what its establishment ought to be, 149;wherein its greatness consists, 149;may be either too large or too small, 209;what should be its situation, 211;whether proper near the sea, 211;ought to be divided by families into different sorts of men, 218City and confederacy, their difference, 37;wherein it should be one, 27Command amongst equals should be in rotation, 101Common meals not well established at Lacedaemon-well at Crete, 56;the model from whence the Lacedaemonian was taken, 56;inferior to it in some respects, 56Community, its recommendations deceitful, 34;into what people it may be divided, 194Community of children, 29, 30;inconveniences attending it, 31Community of goods, its inconveniences, 28;destructive of modesty and liberality, 34Community of wives, its inconveniences, 27Contempt a cause of sedition, 146Courage of a man different from a woman's, 74Courts, how many there ought to be, 140Courts of justice should be few in a small state, 192Cretan customs similar to the Lacedasmonian, 57;assembly open to every citizen, 58Cretans, their power, 58;their public meals, how conducted 58Crete, the government of, 57;description of the island of 57Customs at Carthage, Lacedaemon, and amongst the Scythians andIberians, concerning those who had killed an enemy, 204, 205Dadalus's statues, 6.Delphos, an account of a sedition there, 150Demagogues, their influence in a democracy, 116.Democracies, arose out of tyrannies, 100;whence they arose, 142;when changed into tyrannies, 153;their different sorts, 184, 188;general rules for their establishment, 185;should not be made too perfect, 191Democracy, what, 79, 80;its definition, 112, 113;different sorts of, 115, 118;its object, 122;how subverted in the Isle of Cos, 152Democracy and aristocracy, how they may be blended together, 163Democratical state, its foundation, 184Despotic power absurd, 205Dion, his noble resolution, 171Dionysius, his taxes, 175Dissolution of kingdoms and tyrannies, 169Domestic employments of men and women different, 74Domestic government, its object, 77Domestic society the first, 3Draco, 65Dyrrachium, government of, 101Economy and money-getting, difference, 17Education necessary for the happiness of the city, 90;of all things most necessary to preserve the state, 166;what it ought to be, 166;the objects of it, 228, 229;should be taken care of by the magistrate, and correspond tothe nature of government, 238;should be a common care, and regulated by laws, 238Employment, one to be allotted to one person in an extensive government, 136Employments in the state, how to be disposed of, 88-90;whether all should be open to all, 216Ephialtes abridges the power of the senate of Areopagus, 63Ephori, at Sparta, their power too great, 54;improperly chosen, 54;flattered by their kings, 54;the supreme judges, 55;manner of life too indulgent, 55Epidamnus, an account of a revolution there, 150Equality, how twofold, 143;in a democracy, how to be procured, 186Euripides quoted, 72Family government, of what it consists, 5Father should not be too young, 232Females and slaves, wherein they differ, 2;why upon a level amongst barbarians, 3Forfeitures, how to be applied, 192Fortune improper pretension for power, 91Freemen in general, what power they ought to have, 86Free state treated of, 121;how it arises out of a democracy and oligarchy, 122, 123Friendship weakened by a community of children, 31General, the office of, how to be disposed of, 98Gods, why supposed subject to kingly government, 3Good, relative to man, how divided, 201Good and evil, the perception of, necessary to form a family and a city, 4Good fortune something different from happiness, 202Government should continue as much as possible in the same hands, 28;in what manner it should be in rotation, 28;what, 66;which best, of a good man or good laws, 98;good, to what it should owe its preservation, 124;what the best, 225Government of the master over the slave sometimes reciprocally useful, iiGovernments, how different from each other, 67;whether more than one form should be established, 76;should endeavour to prevent others from being too powerful—instances of it, 93;how compared to music, in;in general, to what they owe their preservation, 160Governments, political, regal, family, and servile, their differencefrom each other, iGovernors and governed, whether their virtues are the same or different, 23;whether they should be the same persons or different, 227Grecians, their superiority over other people, 213Guards of a king natives, 96,168;of a tyrant foreigners, 96, 168Gymnastic exercises, when to be performed, 223;how far they should be made a part of education, 242, 243Happiness, wherein it consists, 207Happy life, where most likely to be found, 202Harmony, whether all kinds of it are to be used in education, 251Helots troublesome to the Lacedaemonians, 87Herdsmen compose the second-best democracy, 189Hippodamus, an account of, 46;his plan of government, 46, 47:objected to, 47, 48Homer quoted, 95, 116Honours, an inequality of, occasions seditions, 44Horse most suitable to an oligarchy, 195Houses, private, their best form, 221Human flesh devoured by some nations, 242Husbandmen compose the best democracy, 189;will choose to govern according to law, 118Husbandry, art of, whether part of money-getting, 13Instruments, their difference from each other, 6;wherein they differ from possessions, 6Italy, its ancient boundary, 218Jason's declaration, 72Judge should not act as an arbitrator, 48, 49;which is best for an individual, or the people in general, 98, 99Judges, many better than one, 102;of whom to consist, 102;how many different sorts are necessary, 141Judicial part of government, how to be divided, 140Jurymen, particular powers sometimes appointed to that office, 68Justice, what, 88;the course of, impeded in Crete, 59;different in different situations, 74King, from whom to be chosen 60;the guardian of his people 168King's children, what to be done with, 100King's power, what it should be 100;when unequal, 143Kingdom, what, 78Kingdoms, their object, 167;how bestowed, 168;causes of their dissolution, 173;how preserved, 173Kingly government in the heroic times, what, 96Kingly power regulated by the laws at Sparta in peace, 95;absolute in war, 95Kings formerly in Crete, 58;their power afterwards devolved to the kosmoi, 58;method of electing them at Carthage, 60Knowledge of the master and slave different from each other, iiKosmoi, the power of, 58;their number, 58;wherein inferior to the ephori, 58;allowed to resign their office before their time is elapsed, 59Lacedamonian customs similar to the Cretan, 57Lacedaemonian government much esteemed, 41;the faults of it, 53-56;calculated only for war, 56;how composed of a democracy and oligarchy, 124Lacedaemonian revenue badly raised, 56, 57Lacedaemonians, wherein they admit things to be common, 33Land should be divided into two parts, 219Law makes one man a slave, another free, 6;whether just or not, 9;at Thebes respecting tradesmen, 75;nothing should be done contrary to it, 160Law and government, their difference, 107, 108Laws, when advantageousto alter them, 49,50, 52;of every state will be like the state, 88;whom they should be calculated for, 92;decide better than men, 101;moral preferable to written, 102;must sometimes bend to ancient customs, 117;should be framed to the state, 107;the same suit not all governments, 108Legislator ought to know not only what is best, but what is practical, nLegislators should fix a proper medium in property, 46Liberty, wherein it partly consists, 184, 185Life, happy, owing to a course of virtue, 125;how divided, 228Locrians forbid men to sell their property, 43Lycophron's account of law, 82Lycurgus gave over reducing the women to obedience, 53;made it infamous for any one to sell his possessions, 53;some of his laws censured, 54;spent much time at Crete, 57;supposed to be the scholar of Thales, 64Lysander wanted to abolish the kingly power in Sparta, 143Magistrate, to whom that name is properly given, 136Magistrates, when they make the state incline to an oligarchy, 61;when to an aristocracy, 61;at Athens, from whom to be chosen, 64;to determine those causes which the law cannot be applied to, 88;whether their power is to be the same, or differentin different communities, 137;how they differ from each other, 138;in those who appoint them, 138;should be continued but a short time in democracies, 161;how to be chosen in a democracy, 185;different sorts and employments, 196Making and using, their difference, 6Malienses, their form of government, 131Man proved to be a political animal, 4;has alone a perception of good and evil, 4;without law and justice the worst of beings, 5Master, power of, whence it arises, as some think, 5Matrimony, when to be engaged in, 232Meals, common, established in Crete and Italy, 218;expense of, should be defrayed by the whole state, 219Mechanic employments useful for citizens, 73Mechanics, whether they should be allowed to be citizens, 74, 75;cannot acquire the practice of virtue, 75;admitted to be citizens in an oligarchy, 75Medium of circumstances best, 126Members of the community, their different pretences to the employmentsof the state, 90;what natural dispositions they ought to be of, 213Men, some distinguished by nature for governors, others to be governed, 7;their different modes of living, 13;worthy three ways, 226Merchandise, three different ways of carrying it on, 20Middle rank of men make the best citizens, 127;most conducive to the preservation of the state, 128;should be particularly attended to by the legislators, 130Military, how divided, 194Mitylene, an account of a dispute there, 150Monarch, absolute, 100Monarchies, their nature, 95, 96;sometimes elective, 95;sometimes hereditary, 95;whence they sometimes arise, 146;causes of corruption in them, 167;how preserved, 173Money, how it made its way into commerce, 16;first weighed, 16;afterwards stamped, 16;its value dependent on agreement, 16;how gained by exchange, 19Money—getting considered at large, 17, 18Monopolising gainful, 21; sometimes practised by cities, 21Monopoly of iron in Sicily, a remarkable instance of the profit of it, 21Music, how many species of it, in;why a part of education, 240;how far it should be taught, 242, 243;professors of it considered as mean people, 244;imitates the disposition of the mind, 246;improves our manners, 246;Lydian, softens the mind, 247;pieces of, difficult in their execution, not to be taught to children, 249Nature requires equality amongst equals, 101Naval power should be regulated by the strength of the city, 212Necessary parts of a city, what, 215Nobles, the difference between them, no;should take care of the poor, 193Oath, an improper one in an oligarchy, 166Officers of state, who they ought to be, 135;how long to continue, 135;who to choose them, 136Offices, distinction between them, 67;when subversive of the rights of the people, 130Offspring, an instance of the likeness of, to the sire, 30Oligarchies arise where the strength of the state consists in horse, no;whence they arose, 142Oligarchy admits not hired servants to be citizens, 75;its object, 79;what, 79, 81;its definition, 112;different sorts of, 117, 119;its object, 122;how it ought to be founded, 195Onomacritus supposed to have drawn up laws, 64Ostracism, why established, 93, 146;its power, 93;a weapon in the hand of sedition, 94Painting, why it should be made a part of education, 241Particulars, five, in which the rights of the people will be undermined, 130Pausanias wanted to abolish the ephori, 143People, how they should be made one, 35;of Athens assume upon their victory over the Medes, 64;what best to submit to a kingly government, 104;to an aristocratic, 104;to a free state, 104;should be allowed the power of pardoning, not of condemning, 135Periander's advice to Thrasy-bulus, 93, 169Pericles introduces the paying of those who attended the court of justice, 64Philolaus, a Theban legislator, quits his native country, 64Phocea, an account of a dispute there, 150Physician, his business, 86Physicians, their mode of practice in Egypt, 98;when ill consult others, 102Pittacus, 65Plato censured, 180Poor excused from bearing arms and from gymnastic exercises inan oligarchy, 131;paid for attending the public assemblies in a democracy, 131Power of the master, its object, 77Power, supreme, where it ought to be lodged, 84;why with the many, 85, 87Powers of a state, different methods of delegating them to the citizens,132-134Preadvisers, court of, 135Priesthood, to whom to be allotted, 217Prisoners of war, whether they may be justly made slaves, 9Private property not regulated the source of sedition, 42;Phaleas would have it equal, 42;how Phaleas would correct the irregularities of it, 43;Plato would allow a certain difference in it, 43Property, its nature, 12;how it should be regulated, 32, 33;the advantages of having it private, 34;what quantity the public ought to have, 44;ought not to be common, 219Public assemblies, when subversive of the liberties of the people, 130Public money, how to be divided, 193Qualifications necessary for those who are to fill the first departmentsin government, 164Quality of a city, what meant by it, 129Quantity, 129Rest and peace the proper objects of the legislator, 230Revolutions in a democracy, whence they arise, 152;in an oligarchy, 156Rich fined in an oligarchy for not bearing arms and attending thegymnastic exercises, 131;receive nothing for attending the public assemblies in a democracy, 131Rights of a citizen, whether advantageous or not, 203Seditions sometimes prevented by equality, 45;their causes, 144-146;how to be prevented, 163Senate suits a democracy, 185Shepherds compose the second-best democracy, 189Slave, his nature and use, 6;a chattel, 7;by law, how, 9Slavery not founded in nature but law, as some think, 6Slaves, an inquiry into the virtues they are capable of, 23;difficult to manage properly, 51;their different sorts, 73Society necessary to man, 77Society, civil, the greatest blessing to man, 4;different from a commercial intercourse, 82Socrates, his mistakes on government, Book II. passim;his division of the inhabitants, 38;would have the women go to war, 38;Aristotle's opinion of his discourses, 38;his city would require a country of immeasurable extent, 39;his comparison of the human species to different kinds of metals, 40;his account of the different orders of men in a city imperfect, 3Sojourners, their situation, 66Solon's opinion of riches, 14;law for restraining property, 43;alters the Athenian government, 63Soul by nature the governor over the body, and in what manner, 8;of man how divided, 228, 231Speech a proof that man was formed for society, 4State, each, consists of a great number of parts, 109;its disproportionate increase the cause of revolutions, 147;firm, what, 159Stealing, how to be prevented, 44Submission to government, when it is slavery, 206Supreme power should be ultimately vested in the laws, 101Syracuse, the government of, languid, 151Temperance in a man different from a woman, 74Temples, how to be built, 223Thales, his contrivance to get money, 21;supposed to be the companion of Onomacritus, 64Things necessary to be known for the management of domestic affairs, 19, 20;necessary in the position of a city, 220Tribunals, what different things they should have under theirjurisdictions, 137Tyrannies, how established, 168;how preserved, 174, 176;of short duration, 180;instances thereof, 180Tyranny, what, 79;not natural, 103;whence it arises, 108;treated of, 124;contains all that is bad in all governments, 125Tyrant, from whom usually chosen, 167;his object, 168;his guards, 168Tyrants, many of them originally enjoyed only kingly power, 168;the causes of their being conspired against, 169, 170;always love the worst of men, 175Uses of possessions, two, 15Usury detested, 19Venality to be guarded against, IDSVillage, what, 3Virtue of a citizen has reference to the state, 71;different in different governments, 71Virtues different in different persons, 23, 24;whether the same constitute a good man and a valuable citizen, 71Walls necessary for a city, 222War, what is gained by it in some degree a natural acquisition, 14;not a final end, 205, 229Wife, the proper government of, 22Women, what their proper virtue, 23;not to be indulged in improper liberties, 52;had great influence at Lacedaemon, 52;of great disservice to the Lacedemonians, 52;why indulged by them, 53;their proper time of marrying, 233;how to be managed when with child, 234Zaleucus, legislator of the Western Locrians, 64;supposed to be the scholar of Thales, 64